A dichotomy result for prime algebras of Gelfand-Kirillov dimension two. (Q994287)

The main result of the paper is the following excellent theorem: Let \(R\) be a finitely generated prime Goldie \(K\)-algebra with quadratic growth over an uncountable field. Then \(R\) is either primitive or satisfies a polynomial identity. This answers a well-known question of Small -- Are affine Noetherian algebras with quadratic growth (or Gelfand-Kirillov dimension two) either primitive or PI? -- in the case of algebras over uncountable fields. Several other strong results are proved in the paper under review, in particular the following: Let \(R\) be a finitely generated \(K\)-algebra that is a domain of quadratic growth. Then either \(R\) satisfies a polynomial identity or \(A\) has only finitely many prime ideals \(P\) such that \(A/P\) has Gelfand-Kirillov dimension 1.